The post-pandemic world has led to a tremendous amount of change in the buying and selling process, many of which seem to be permanent changes. Changes in buying processes, along with hesitation in decision-making, have led to longer sales cycles.
Implementing and driving the adoption of sales processes that successfully scale and deliver a great buying experience has become essential. In enterprise sales, predictable results begin with the adoption of proven processes. And adoption only takes place if sellers believe that the sales process is helping them win deals (and not another mandate from sales operations).
A well-defined sales methodology framework can help you achieve that - guiding the seller through the details of every step in the sales process. From great discovery, call preparation, and new stakeholder onboarding to delivering on key events like proof of value, commercial negotiation, deal reviews, etc; a sales methodology connects the dots for the seller and ensures they deliver the right experience to their buyers.
Having a strong sales methodology at the foundation of the sales process and ensuring it gets used at every opportunity can be the difference between hitting or missing your numbers. But many sales methodology implementations fail to deliver the desired results. The challenge is that most of them end up focusing on training the sellers on the sales methodology, followed by having a framework in CRM to manage reporting. For sellers, while they appreciate the training, the CRM reporting becomes more work and takes them away from actual selling leading to them scaling down the usage of the sales methodology over time.
Just like salespeople are measured on sales metrics, sales methodology ROI should also be on revenue metrics. But start off this process by defining the objectives and goals. For example, one of our most common objectives is ‘improving win rates in enterprise accounts.' Define what is important to your business and get explicit signoff from other executive stakeholders.
Look for approaches that have proven successful through cycles of business change and disruption. Look both inwards (what your sellers have been doing) and outwards (what is the best methodology for your context. For example, Value Selling vs Strategic Selling etc.). As part of the process, interview the top sellers to see what works for them. Also, consult with sales methodology providers. Many of our customers work with Value Selling Associates and Corporate Visions. The best partners take a consultative approach to determine the right approach for your business and customize their offerings accordingly.
We often define sales methodology adoption by looking at what sellers fill in the CRM. Instead, look for what your sellers are doing for their buyers. For example, start looking at how good the discovery is. How well aligned are you with their goals if you have Proof of Value? Tools like Mutual Success Plans, Account Plans, etc help you align with your buyers more effectively.
Measure what matters - buyer experience and feedback over what your sellers enter in your CRM.
Getting seller buy-in into any change is essential for adoption. Ensure the training program is designed to sell the "why" as much as talk about the "what" and "how". Sales managers are the key here as they interact with frontline sales talent every day. They will play a critical role in driving the adoption of the sales methodology through on-the-job coaching and deal reviews.
The tool you implement should help sellers sell and should not be another sales management tool. The new buyer is more collaborative and under immense pressure to deliver value. Use sales execution platforms to enable sellers to leverage sales methodology in real time to deliver a differentiated buying experience to win deals.
For the greatest ROI of sales methodology, make the buyer the central protagonist and sellers the cast that helps them achieve their goals. Make sure you measure the impact in terms of how buyers respond to your methodology - metrics like time in a sales stage, buyer engagement in mutual success plans, and multi-threading quotient can be your leading indicators.
On a quarterly basis, do your win-loss analysis by interviewing a certain number of buyers who have gone through the process. Learn from their experience and come back to improve the sales methodology further.
Sales processes are becoming more complex, and buyers are doing more research on their own before they make contact with sellers, this is where the sales methodology becomes essential. Sales leaders and sales organizations must try to find ways to get ahead.
A well-adopted sales methodology can help your sellers challenge the buyers’ thought process influencing the evaluation criteria and process in your favor.
Having a strong sales methodology at the foundation of the sales process and ensuring it gets used at every opportunity can be the difference between hitting or missing your numbers.
The challenge is that most of the sales methodologies end up focusing on training the sellers on the sales methodology, followed by having a framework in CRM to manage reporting.
Here are the 6 key steps to driving sales methodology adoption:
1. Set KPIs
2. Identify the sales methodology that works for your organization
3. Make it buyer-centric from day 1
4. Train, coach, and reinforce
5. Implement the right tool
6. Measure, refine and improvise